Drabbles and ficlettes
by ShadowBYeBYe
Summary: A collection of small blurps and shorts ranging from K to M. Running the gambit of characters from Amon to Naga.
1. Waiting (K)

Pabu sniffed the ground. He snorted and dug in the snow a little bit. Sitting back on his haunches he looked over at Naga. "We're left out again."

Naga laid down on the snow crossing one paw over the other as she looked around. "Aren't we always."

Pabu sucked his teeth and moved back over crawling on top of her back.. He slunk up her neck and laid down on her head. "This is the finale though! We should at least get a kick ass scene. don't you think?"

Naga huffed and backed her ears. "Get off of my head. I hate when you do that. I can't see you." She shook her head sending the fire ferret into the snow. He popped out and shook his head.

"Patience rat."

Pabu chittered at her as he crawled back over. Sitting back on his back legs he put his front paws on her nose. "Rat? Rat? Oh you've cut me to the quick."

Naga rolled her eyes and set her head down. "They'll need us in a little while. When they need us we'll go."

Pabu snorted and sat back on the snow curling up in a ball under her snout. "I'm cold."

"We're in the snow. It's cold."

"I'm a fire ferret, I don't like cold."

"Doesn't your human give you a bath? Aren't you cold when you get out?"

"Of course he gives me a bath! I hate them. Their cold and then I get all fluffy and stuff."

Naga pushed against him with her nose. "Fluffy is cute." Her eyes glittered. Pabu blinked at her and chittered again.

"I am not cute. I am a fierce warrior ferret."

She gave him a look and perked her ears. "You're a weasel. One hard sneeze and your a rich woman's mittens."

Pabu puffed his chest out. "I'm no weasel."

Naga's ears perked. "Did you hear that?"

"You're ignoring me. I am not a weasel!"

"Hush about the weasel thing, Pabu. I think I heard your human." Pabu's ears stood straight up as he jumped up.

"Alright! Time to get this done animal style!"

"You know the human's would think that was sexual."

"IT"S NOT! Why is everything sexual with you?!"

"What can I say? I'm not getting any younger." Naga shook her head as she stood up. "And it's not like there are any eligible bachelor males around for me to schmooze."

Pabu blinked at her as he jumped up on her neck. "And what am I? Chopped liver?"

"No. You're a weasel."


	2. Promise Me (K plus )

He had stood in the room as the healers had tried their best to bring his father back. His eyes had been cold and he had no sadness in his heart. He felt no grief in his father's passing and hadn't shed a tear.

For a week, now, he had sat religiously at his mother's side. He would cradle her head when it came time for her to drink- the only thing she could keep on her stomach was water in broth. That was no way to live and Tarrlok knew it. He held her hand as she spoke in rambles- telling stories he had heart thousands of times and had memorized by heart.

But even as she repeated the same story for the third time in the same day- he listened with earnest. he heard and cherished every word that came from her mouth.

Her fragile hand gripped his as best as she could. Tarrlok smoothed his hand over those bony thin fingers- caressing that skin that was so frail that it bruised with just a feathering touch.

He cried as she moaned in pain, rolling her head to one side then the other crying out because it just hurt that much. There was nothing he could do for her. He had never felt so completely useless.

When her moans quieted and her face took on a relaxed look- panic shot through Tarrlok's entire body. She looked up at her son- her only living child and smiled. Her hand came up to brush the tear that he didn't realize had left his eyes. "Don't cry, son."

Tarrlok tried to steel his voice but it didn't work. "Aama…"

She closed her eyes. "I'll see Noatak soon…." Her words faded to just a whisper. Her hand went limp in his. Tarrlok's eyes widened as he called to her again. Clinging to her hand he picked her head up- that last breath out escaped her in a sigh as he pulled her into a hug. "Aama!"

She wouldn't answer her youngest child's call ever again. But he would never stop calling to her and looking to her when he was in need.


	3. Hmm (T)

_He bit into his lip as another lash landed across his back. Blistered and cracked fingers dug into the dirt as he tried to push himself up only to throw himself back to the dust as the whip cracked across his the already raw skin._

_"Please…" The sound that came from his voice sounded more like that of an animal than a boy. They didn't hear him or if they did they didn't care. Once again he pushed himself to his hands and knees. Tears tore down his face, gathering at his chin and nose before falling away. "Please.." He tried again but still the words wouldn't come after that pitiful utterance._

_He looked up at the faces he'd grown to hate. To despise with every inch of him. These people, these bending monsters, they were supposed to protect him. They were supposed to love him. His icy eyes begged for an explanation- so reason to why he was kicked, beaten, whipped and countless other means of degrading torture. The only reason he ever go force from them._

_"Non bending filth." _

__"Lieutenant, are you ready?" Amon's voice brought him from his reverie with a start.

"Yes sir."


	4. Prove yourself (T)

"You can't do this." He frowned looking at his superior. "It isn't right." The lieutenant argued. His palms were thick with sweat and he could feel his heart beating hard against his chest.

"You've got to prove your worth to me, my Lieutenant." Amon's voice was cold and calculated It didn't expose any of the amusement that was hidden behind his porcelain mask. "You have to prove yourself. How far are you willing to go?"

The lieutenant's cold blue eyes watched his leader pace. "But sir-"

"But nothing." He stopped in front of the thin man. "Now, on your knees."

Lieu glared at Amon with narrowed eyes but grudgingly obeyed. "This is humiliating."

"Part of the intention, my good man. If you are truly dedicated to our purpose, our cause, you must be willing to humiliate degrade and if it comes to it sacrifice. " Amon said as he folded his arms behind his back looking at the unmasked exterminator.

"I understand sacrificing my life, but my dignity sir? A man has to have his limits." Amon chuckled the only sign of his utter amusement as he walked closer.

"Your dignity?" He leaned down not touching the other man just looking him in the eyes. "I'll let you keep your dignity. But you'd better do a good job."

Lieutenant felt his throat knot as he licked his lips slightly, his pink tongue rolling over parched lips. "I… I don't want to do this sir."

Amon tilted his head. "I thought you were loyal to me, Lieu?"

"I am sir, but this.." He felt his face flush as Amon straightened. "This is..not something I'm used to."

"Oh you're being a baby. It's not going to kill you." He smirked behind his mask. "It won't even hurt….that much."

Lieutenant crossed his arms as he looked up at the other man. "And why is it I have to do this? Don't you have women for this?"

"Maybe I want to watch you? Maybe I like watching you sweat." He chuckled low in the back of his throat. "It isn't often that I have the opportunity to see a man of your caliber do this." Amon's fingers curled around his subordinate's jaw as he leaned down. "Besides, I know how much you want to please me. I know that you'll put your all into it."

The lieutenant blushed and frowned. "Sir. alright. I understand I'll do it, but…do all of these people have to watch?" He asked looking around sheepishly as his equalist brothers and sisters stood around the corners of the room watching.

"Of course, every one of them had to do something just as humiliating and degrading depending on their skills and it was for an audience as well." Amon stood up and motioned. "If you don't think you can handle it though, I'm sure there are quite a few in this room that would be more than willing to show you how it's done." He looked around the room as if considering it. "How many of you would get on your knees for me? How many of you have?"

The lieutenant looked around his eyes widening as all of the hands went up. He couldn't believe this. All of them..Did things really get that…filthy within the Equalist? Well, here he was on his knees with his leader standing before him looking down at him expectantly.

"Lieutenant?"

"Alright. I'll do it, but I don't have to like it."

"Just grit through the pain, my friend. With such toned arm muscles as yours it won't take long." Amon grinned.

The man sighed and nodded reaching out he wrapped his hand around the smooth but hard length. He glanced up at Amon once more hoping he'd change his mind.

"Well? Get to work Lieu, the floor isn't going to scrub itself." He said with a smile as he handed the man the scrubbing brush.


	5. Second Breath (T)

Surrounded by nothingness was a new sensation for him. His limbs were dense and heavy but his core was empty. He was being pulled in two different directions. The very void he was trapped in was trying to rip him apart.

Amon's skin was on fire but it was Noatak's spirit that was burning. Forcing his eyes open he tried to find something to latch onto. Something to bring him back to the world he'd been torn from.

"Noatak."

That brief whispered voice seemed to echo around him. It came again- this time penetrating his skull with icy terror. His lips moved wordlessly as he tried to think. He tried to say something to answer that eerily familiar voice.

His body was right side up then upside down, sideways and over again before she appeared. A silhouette of white mist circled before the details started falling into place. Even before he could see her face- her hands were cupping his jaw and he knew he was in the presence of his mother.

"Aama…" He breathed as he bent down into his mother's hands. Her once beautiful blue eyes were the same dim color as the rest of the mist that made her. Her fingers moved over his face pushing the hair from his eyes before pulling him into a hug holding him against her chest.

His arms tried to hold her but they just slipped through. His head was cradled against her chest and he couldn't understand how she was holding him. Limply his arms hung down at his side as the nerves beneath his skin buzzed. "I'm sorry…Aama. I'm sorry I left you…" Tears screamed out the back of his throat turning his whispered words coarse and gritty.

"You never left me, Noatak." Her hands brought his jaw up to look at her. "Never. You were always in my heart, my son."

"I….I tried making things right…making things better."

"Some tasks are too immense for one to take on by themselves." He looked up at her. There was so much he wanted to say to her. Explain why he left why he was the way he was. So much to apologize for- but nothing would come out. No sound would leave his lips even as his jaw worked in pathetic silences.

Just as gently and as suddenly she appeared she was gone. The inky blackness around him changed. The warm comfort turned to a cold but burning uneasiness. The air that wasn't radiated with anger and hatred. Noatak knew what was coming. WHO was coming. No. He refused. He would not see this apparition. This spirit didn't deserve to speak with him. His father didn't deserve him.

His eyes clamped shut and her refused to look at the creature forming in front of him. His mind turned out any noise that came from its mouth and after several minutes the air changed again and his father was gone. He had no idea what he had said and he didn't care to know. Ever. The man was a monster of the worst kind. The very reason that bending was viewed as evil.

His feet landed on semi-solid ground. Throwing his eyes opened he looked around. Still there was nothing. A firm hand landed on his shoulder spinning him around. He started to fight until his eyes took in the very vivid orange robes of an Air Monk.

The words left him again and fear cemented his feet in place as he looked at the one and only Avatar Aang. It was his turn to feel like a monster. Humbled by the presence of the original revolutionary he fell to his knees. Hands gripping the cloak of the late avatar his lips began to utter then beg for forgiveness. He knew his misdeeds. He knew the methods taken to insure Equality had been horrific.

The man said nothing as Noatak's eyes flooded with tears as he begged to be forgive. It wasn't until the water benders eyes sought Aang's that the Air Nomad finally spoke.

"It isn't me you need to ask forgiveness from, Amon." He looked out and the fog cleared beyond his line of sight. Republic City was just in the distance smoke still billowing from the war he had caused. "The lives that you have touched, the people that followed you that were deceived by your lies. Those are the ones you should ask forgiveness from."

He took the broken leader around the shoulders and brought him to his feet. He wasn't the feared Amon any more- he was a fearful child. A lost teenager that had long ago been slaughtered by the cruelty of his father.

"Do you think you deserve their forgiveness?"

Noatak's eyes dropped and he thought. He slowly shook his head. "No….but I would like the opportunity to earn it."

The avatar was silent for what seemed to span years before he spoke again. "Very well. You have one chance, Noatak." With those words the world went black. The opposing forces in his body disappeared.

His eyes pulled open as he felt the sand beneath him. Digging his fingers into the sand he looked up at the night sky. He sucked in a painful breath and rolled onto his side coughing and trying to make his lungs and heart work as they should. His eyes burned but he kept them open refusign to give in to any more tears.

A body was laying a short distance from him… Scrambling over to his brother's side, on hands and knees like the wolves he had manipulated so many years ago. He pulled Tarrlok's head into his lap and waited. Watching….hoping.

When Tarrlok took a shallow breath he closed his eyes looking up at the sky. "Thank you Aang."


End file.
